As governor, Phil Bredesen’s office covered up details of harassment allegations against top officials

Tennessee Democrat Phil Bredesen, a top party recruit who announced his Senate campaign on Thursday morning, was criticized for hiding details of sexual assault investigations into his top officials during his tenure as the state’s governor.

The campaign announcement by Bredesen, who was Tennessee’s governor from 2003 through 2011, came just hours before Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) announced he would be resigning due to allegations of sexual misconduct and amid the ongoing examination of the way workplace harassment claims are handled in Congress.

That sort of examination already took place in Tennessee while Bredesen was governor.